“Space, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It’s five year mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldy go where no man has gone before!” With these words, Gene Roddeberry created a phenomenon that has swept the world, and created a fandom that is fiercely loyal. After numerous movies and TV shows, the franchise is getting a new start with a new movie May 8th. The movie will bring back the celebrated original crew, but with some twists. The crew will meet technically before they were supposed to, and be brought aboard the fabled Enterprise before the original series premiered.
For those unfamiliar with Star Trek, a little insight will be provided. Gene Roddenberry had an idea for a science fiction show set in space, with heavy drama and high adventure. He developed this idea for years before CBS gave him the green light. It debuted in 1966. It featured William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, the youngest captain in Starfleet, as the commander of the USS Enterprise and her crew. He was flanked by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy, who was fiery and emotional; and the Vulcan known as Spock, who had learned to suppress his emotions and places his belief in logic, as do all Vulcans. The trio rounded each other out very well, and the rest of the senior staff: Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and later Chekov, brought the Enterprise to different planets, wild adventures, and captivated audiences… well the few who tuned in. It was cancelled after three seasons due to poor ratings. Since that beginning, the cult status of the show has given way, and now it is one of the biggest media franchises, which includes comics.
The current holder of the Star Trek comic license, IDW, have been producing comics since 2006, and they have delved into both the original series and the successful Next Generation. One of the major series dealing with the original crew of the USS Enterprise is Star Trek: Year Four. Year Four consists of what would have been the Fourth Season of Star Trek, and is written by DC Fontana. Fontana is a well respected writer in the science fiction community, as well as Gene Roddenberry’s assistant, pre-Star Trek. With her writing the series, there is a sense of continuity with Mr. Roddenberry’s original vision. Of course, IDW has also managed to snag major comic luminaries to write for the series as well. Chris Claremont (Star Trek: Debt of Honor) and John Byrne (Star Trek: Assignment Earth, Star Trek: Crew), legends of the comic industry, have worked on Star Trek books in recent years, as well as Peter David, who was well known to Trekkies as a Trek novelist as well as a comic book writer. Mr. David actually wrote a sequel to his novel series, Star Trek: New Frontier. With the new relaunched movie, IDW has not missed a beat. They have produced a movie prequel which has sold very well, and they have numerous Trek titles available.
To find all of IDW’s Star Trek comics and graphic novels, Midtown Comics is the logical choice to beam you into the adventures of the Enterprise. With two prime locations in the heart of Manhattan, as well as a wonderful website, Midtown Comics is the place for your Trek needs. From comics to playsets to t-shirts (just as long as it’s not red!), Midtown has it all. Gene Roddenberry dreamed of a future where all of humanity co-existed, but with the uncertainty of our time, and the distance from his era, perhaps the dream needed a little updating. The new Star Trek will be in theaters May 8th, 2009, and we will see what the brand new future of Roddenberry looks like. See you in the theatre!
